Proton irradiation enhancement of low-field negative magnetoresistance sensitivity of AlGaN/GaN-based magnetic sensor at cryogenic temperature

Abderrahmane, A.*; Ko, P. J.*; Okada, Hiroshi*; Sato, Shinichiro; Oshima, Takeshi; Sandhu, A.*

The longitudinal and transverse magnetoresistances of AlGaN/GaN heterostructure-based micro-Hall sensors were compared with samples irradiated with protons with an energy of 380 keV and fluence of 10 (protons/cm). Increases in the elastic and inelastic scattering were deduced from weak localization behavior in both samples. The AlGaN/GaN micro-Hall sensors showed stable magnetic sensitivity in non and irradiated samples and increased resistivity after proton irradiation yielded an enhanced magnetoresistance sensitivity in nonirradiated sensors from 160 to 417 V/(A T). The minimum detectable magnetic field of irradiated micro-Hall sensors determined from magneto-voltage measurements at 4 K was similar to the minimum detectable magnetic field in the nonirradiated sensors.